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Arc 4: Calor
Overview The Vici crew is on a mission to stop a murder. They've been sent to the planet Calor by Senator Wake to do her a favor and hopefully get Calor to rejoin the Alliance. They have 48 hours to find a way into the Solstice Gala in Calor's capital city, T'Noklan. How to Stop a Murder The morning after the Starblaster fiasco, the group went to Senator Wake's office for a meeting. In the waiting room, they learned from a news broadcast that the Hargo bombings were being blamed on Belinda. In the meeting, the group berated Senator Wake over everything she said. She offered to get Belinda out of prison if they helped her stop a murder plot of one of her allies on the planet Calor. The Senator discovered the plan to kill Elder Einona, and wants the group to go and stop it. The group agrees. Noora told the Vici crew at a later briefing that Ellie is still on leave, in the meantime Noora will be the pilot. The mission is to get to Calor, find a contact (an actress), get into an event called The Solstice Gala, and stop the murder plot all in 48 hours. It would be good to expose High Elder Cadmael, but it's a secondary objective. The Vici gets to Calor and lands, but an explosion knocks the group unconscious. I Dream of Sandwyrms Rose, Sebastian, and Felicity wake up in the Vici infirmary, with Dr. Enae watching over them. It's very reminiscent of when they woke up from the simulation so it's only kinda triggering. Enae explains that the explosion was an energy burst that came from the engine. It had malfunctioned for some reason and released a lot of its energy. The energy really affected Findall, causing heart murmurs, muscle mass loss, and brain damage. Since the group was unconscious and spent much of the day traveling, they now only have 24 hours to figure out the murder plot and stop it. In Findall's coma, he dreams about being an empty space. The space has a thin sheet of water on the surface and a red glow on the horizon. He walks for a while, but nothing seems to change. He punches the ground, causing ripples in the water and a loud metallic clanging sound. He closes his eyes and specks of red light appear. These red specks amass into the shape of a bird. The bird flashes in response to Findall trying to talk to it, and a small opening pops up. Findall puts his arm in, and the bird absorbs into his skin. Then he wakes up. The group heads to the city while the Vici crew tries to fix the ship. They get down the ridge very easily, but are attacked by a couple of sandwyrms. They kill the first one, but they distract the second and manage to get away towards the capital city, T'Noklan. Night on the Town The group arrives outside the western gate of T'Noklan to find a few Dragonborn standing guard. Rose and Findall decide to take the lead and go talk to them, while Felicity and Sebastian hang back amongst the rocks. The conversation goes south when Rose shows the dragonborn guard Pog her military I.D. card, and he arrests the two and takes them over to the guard house to a holding cell. With the help of the blind sandwyrm they dispatch 3 of the 5 guards, with Pog retreating into the city and another unnamed guard being forced to help the group through the gate. Pog has seen Rose and Felicity, while the unnamed guard has seen all four of them. Inside the city they find themselves in the middle of a plaza in the tourist district. In this part of the city the population is very diverse, so they are able to blend into the crowds after the incident with the guards at the gate. They check into an inn called the Comfy Cot and split up to get information. Sebastian and Felicity go to the bar in a hotel called the Ankh where they have a lovely conversation with a gossipy dragonborn. They find out about the actress Amaris Heartfire doing a booksigning somewhere in the Old District, and that the general sentiment among the rich dragonborn is very racist and isolationist. Rose and Findall go shopping for a cute dress for Rose, and once they get back to the Comfy Cot Findall talks with a group of gnomes (Lyle, Kyle, and Gordon) about a heist at the pyramid where the Solstice Gala is taking place. Gordon asks Findall to let them in, but it's unclear if he will or not. They also talk to another group, where a very enthusiastic elf tells Rose about the book signing at a bookstore called Leaflets the next morning. Amaris Heartfire At Leaflets the next morning, the team gets access into the book signing. They confront Amaris, who seems very aloof about the situation and threats, but both sides come to an agreement: Amaris will get the team into the Solstice Gala but they have to help her steal an incredibly valuable circlet from a jeweler at the Dragon's Hoard. Amaris takes everyone to the Dragon's Hoard to meet with the jeweler, Seaworth. The team, under the convincing guise of movie producers, talks Seaworth into allowing Amaris to try on the circlet and eventually agrees to let her wear it to the Gala. Felicity learns that in order to steal the circlet, they have to transfer a specific type of Locate Object spell to a fake version of the circlet. Amaris thanks the team and invites them over to her penthouse later that evening to be fitted for their outfits. With a few hours to kill, the team decides to search for information about the assassin. A short call to Jenviel reveals they can find information at a sleazy bar called the Rusty Tankard and to ask for someone called 'the Doctor.' Upon arriving at the Rusty Tankard and asking around the team finds out the Doctor's calling card is a kiss on the cheek with purple lipstick. With this information, the team decides to head to Amaris' penthouse and formulate a plan on how to stop the assassination. The Solstice Gala In Amaris' luxurious penthouse, the team awaits fittings by Amaris' stylist. They interact with her butler, a warforge named George, who has an unfortunate quirk which makes him announce out loud whether or not the people around him are threats. On a scale of 1 to 10, with ten being the worst, George says Rose is a 10, Felicity and Sebastian are potential 8s, and Findall is a potential 2. Findall is very upset by his ranking. Taako, Amaris' stylist, comes to fit everyone in their chosen outfits. Rose wears an intricate gold dress that depicts her as the sun, Felicity's vanta black dress has her become the moon, Findall's look is angelic with a feather mask and a crop top with a train, Sebastian's outfit has him become a sort-of pope with a bleeding heart illusion on his chest. Amaris' comes out wearing a dress that looks like a form-fitting suit of armor. Everyone looks very stylish and fitting of the Heavenly Bodies theme. At the base of the Pyramid of the Moon outside the city, Rose gets a weird feeling of deja vu but can't quit remember why the pyramids are familiar to her. The media treats them as superstars on the red carpet, and Findall does his outfit reveal to go from his angelic form into a devilish outfit. Everyone eats it up. They enter the pyramid, which they find is a museum dedicated to ancient dragonborn artifacts and contains a number of Ardaithian artifacts as well. Upon entering the Gala, the team begins their plan to stop the murder and also help Amaris steal the circlet. While keeping tabs on High Elder Cadmael, Elder Einona, and looking out for the murderer, the team discovers an inactive Cartographer in the back of the exhibit. Sebastian activates the Cartographer and finds that it's out of focus, but is unable to figure out the cause of the malfunction. While tailing Cadmael, he also sees that Cadmael and his goons have taken something called the Ascendant Key from the back of the exhibit. The team finds a hole in the wall, where someone had fabricated a number of stone bulls to create the hole that leads into an airway where a sandskimmer is parked and currently abandoned. Felicity focuses on creating the fake circlet for Amaris, taking her into the bathroom to work on the transfer of magic. Felicity had issues with this complicated spell maneuver, asking Eolas for help. He agrees, fully transferring the magic with no trace of tampering. Amaris pockets the real circlet, placing the fake on her forehead and leaving Felicity in the bathroom. While there, the woman from the Starblaster club, River, greets her and puts on purple lipstick. It appears River is the to-be assassin. Felicity gathers the team and finds Elder Einona, who is accompanied by her colleagues Elders Phiala and Melva. They explain the situation, and the lights are cut in the museum. The gnomes Kyle, Lyle, and Gordon have made it into the Gala posing as DJs, and are creating a massive distraction in the front lobby. The team begins to help the Elders escape the pyramid, but are cut off by a magical fog that they decide not to enter. They decide to take the Elders and lock them into the Cartographer with Rose, hoping it will protect them. Felicty, Findall, and Sebastian take on River outside the Cartographer but she proves to be formidable opponent. River gets into the Cartographer when Rose accidentally opens the door, and almost takes out Elder Einona before Findall knocks her away and out of the Cartographer. Working together, Findall and Felicity incapacitate River and talk her out of killing Einona with the promise of bigger and better things. River agrees, but it's a tense alliance. Pyramid of the Ascendant Elder Einona thanks the team for helping them, and they try to leave the Pyramid of the Moon using the sandskimmer they found in the airway. At the hole in the wall, they see the gnomes Kyle, Lyle, and Gordon, who had been posing as DJs, trying to escape as well with the real circlet they stole from Amaris. A couple of Einona's guards come and inform them that Cadmael has left the Gala and destroyed every sandskimmer outside before making his way to the Pyramid of the Ascendant. Einona decides to stay at the Gala and lends her two main guards, Havaro and Driana, to the team for backup catching Cadmael, and the three gnomes give everyone a lift to the Pyramid of the Ascendant. Cadmael's skimmer uses the Ascendant Key to enter the top part of the pyramid, but the team is unable to use this entrance. Korra finds them another entrance lower in the pyramid, where they encounter a dragonborn research team led by Dr. Reinhold. The team learns that the pyramid is a strange Ardaithian installation connected to a series of underground shafts that span all of Calor, and that the different chambers and control room at the top of the pyramid are probably Cadmael's target. A few elevator rides and walks down large hallways later, the team ends up in a huge space similar to the one they encountered the Norisian Covenant's Oracles back on Tethys when they were brought out of the simulation. Moving on to the control room they find Cadmael and a guards holed up inside, with Cadmael just finishing a call to the Norisian Covenant and activating something on one of the control panels in the room. The wall to the outside adjusts into a series of windows, where the team sees Covenant ships assaulting Calor's orbital defenses. Cadmael's guard Finnea moves to attack the team. Secrets of the Pyramid A fight ensues with the team, along with River, versus Finnea and High Elder Cadmael. Most of the team takes on Finnea, but Findall moves to prevent Cadmael from leaving. It's a tough battle, but during the fight Sebastian notices Finnea is under some sort of influence and not acting of her own accord. Rose moves in and removes a curse placed upon Finnea, and Finnea collapses to the ground unconscious. Cadmael casts a spell at Findall and stares into him. At this point, Findall has just managed to herd Cadmael for capture, but is unable to prevent a wildly hurt Cadmael from using a dimension door spell to place himself out on the landing platform. Two Covenant ships land and drop off a dozen guards, and the team sees their leader is Captain Oristin, their enemy from the simulation. The team closes the door, preventing the soldiers and Oristin from gaining entry. Their new allies, the dragonborn Havaro and Driana, arrive at the control room and help carry the unconscious Finnea to the High Elder's sandskimmer, using it to escape the pyramid. The team heads down to warn Dr. Reinhold and the researchers down on the lower levels, and Dr. Reinhold reluctantly agrees to abandon his research and evacuate. Dr. Reinhold then takes Findall towards the center of the pyramid, into another massive chamber with a pit at the bottom. Off in the center of this pit is a floating platform only accessible by the bridge of light Findall activates. As he and Dr. Reinhold approach the platform, the chamber reacts to his presence and different structures begin to lower from the ceiling and surround the platform. The different consoles react to Findall's touch, activating and creating a large, glowing red orb in the center cavity of the platform. Using the other consoles after a series of trial-and-error button pushing, Findall shrinks the orb and tries to take it, absorbing it into his body. The pyramid begins to groan and shake, so Findall and Dr. Reinhold go back outside to await pickup. While that was happening, everyone left on the skimmer returns to the Pyramid of the Moon to drop off Havaro and Driana. On the way, they call in an extraction from the Vici and learn the ship is basically fixed, but the engine is incapable of slipspace jumps. They're met outside the pyramid by Elders Einona, Phiala, and Melva, who thank them for helping and keeping Einona alive, and promising them a favor for their help. The Elders assure the team that the hardy dragonborn will survive the assault and to get away as soon as possible. The team then returns to the Pyramid of the Ascendant to pick up Findall and Dr. Reinhold, who didn't make it onto his colleagues' skimmers during the escape. They take the skimmer out into the wastes and are picked up by the Vici, with Finnea, River, and Dr. Reinhold in tow. As the ship begins to exit the atmosphere, Findall hears Cadmael's angry voice in the back of his head saying, "Found you," and the Vici is assailed by multiple enemy ships. The strain of evasive maneuvers causes the ship's engine core to destabilize, and Finwick calls for help putting out fires around the engine room. The team goes to help, and during the process of putting out fires Rose prays for divine intervention to help. Findall is then sent rocketing towards the engine core by a jarring maneuver from the ship and touches the core, releasing the energy he absorbed in the pyramid into the engine core. The energy stabilizes the core, and the Vici then slipspace jumps to safety. Epilogue As the Vici gets away, the ships giving chase return to the Covenant fleet. Part of the Pyramid of the Ascendant rises from the ground, rearranging itself into a massive starship that is quickly surrounded by the bulk of the Covenant fleet attacking the planet. All the ships then slipspace jump away, leaving the remnants of the space battle to fall around the ruined dome of T'Noklan.